TV is the new reading

'The Middleman' is a fun, post-modern superhero

Original productions on ABC Family usually emphasize goofy sound effects and weird-for-the-sake-of-weird antics over writing and character development, so I tend to ignore them.

Not so with "The Middleman." In fact, I like this show so much I just can’t believe it’s on ABC Family.

In "The Middleman," comic books are real. There are evil geniuses inside every large corporation who are bent on taking over the world in all sorts of different and diabolic ways.

The thin gray line separating us hapless masses from utter chaos is Matt Keeslar as “The Middleman,” a mysterious, extraordinarily well-armed superhero who uncannily is present on the scene of any unusual disturbance.
Together with Mary Pat Gleason as an android assistant called “Ida” – a grumpy shapeshifter who got stuck in frumpy homeroom schoolmarm mode – they handle “exotic problems.”

As of the pilot epiosde, The Middleman has an assistant: Slacker art student Wendy Watson, played by Natalie Morales. Dub-Dub, as she’s called, is a joy from her very first scene, where she’s covering the reception desk for a genetics lab as a temp. She is committed to temp work because it leaves her plenty of time to pursue her artwork. But her personality is such that when, at her latest temp assignment, she is attacked by a genetics experiment gone horribly wrong, she thinks on her feet and defends herself, which The Middleman finds impressive.

Meanwhile, the rest of her life insists on being interesting. Everyone is trying to “out” her boyfriend, a passionless film school student, including her mother, who is always on the other end of her phone. Lacey Thornfield, played by Britt Morgan, her roommate in their illegal sublet, is a conceptual artist who forms an instant attraction for Wendy’s new boss. Wendy just had to pass a whole bunch of tests and as it turned out, she has exactly the right skills and personality to join the Middleman on his daring crime fighting missions.

A couple of points. First, she’s read enough comic books to know that the sidekick always ends up as the hostage. So ... none of that. Secondly ...

Well, there’s some on-the-job training. Within a few moments of saying “yes,” Watson finds herself tracking gorillas – super-intelligent, computer-controlled gorillas – operated by criminal mastermind Mary Lynn Rajskub of “24” as Dr. Gibbs, a mad scientist. And because in the life of the show, comic books are real and this sort of thing really happens all the time, Gibbs was using the gorillas to steal for her and amass a giant fortune because the government keeps cutting her funding and darn it – this show is stingy with the swears – she wants to take over the world.

And that was just the first adventure. I’m so looking forward to the next one, and the one after that. Really, this show is the perfect mix of absurd escapism, personality quirks and quirky writing that again, it’s hard to believe it’s on ABC Family.

But it is. And you should watch it. It’s a great mix of dramatic tension, science fiction, over-the-top action and hilarity.

“The Middleman” airs Mondays at 7 p.m. on ABC Family.